A tug dispatched to help the 12-person crew of the Gulf Justice could not reach the ship. Two Coast Guard aircrews then were dispatched to pull each person off.

Operations began at 1:03 p.m. with seven people pulled, and the remaining five were rescued at 2:06 p.m., the release states.

Everyone is expected to be OK.

"The Coast Guard was relieved to rescue these 12 people before Hurricane Harvey impacted the rescue efforts, making a bad situation worse," said Capt. Tony Hahn, commander, Sector Corpus Christi in the release. "Our crews did a fantastic job collaborating on this rescue."